Product display design and manufacturing using a product display design model

ABSTRACT

Product displays are used to hold and present products. A method of manufacturing a product display can include forming display unit and cartridge blanks for assembly into a product display that has been designed using a product display design model executed on a computing device. A dataset of standardized units is created and includes products, cartridges, and display units. The product display design model generates product display design options that specify geometric arrangements of cartridges within display units, where the cartridges are each associated with a product type. The geometric arrangements are based on inputs that include combinations of a target total product count, a target mix ratio, product types, and a product display type. Display unit blanks and cartridge blanks used to construct display units and cartridges of the product display are formed by a manufacturing device based on a generated product display design option.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/888,361, filed on May 29, 2020, entitled“Product Display Design and Manufacturing Using a Product Display DesignModel,” which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety.

BACKGROUND

Traditional retailers often showcase products using in-store productdisplays. These displays are designed to maximize product visibility andminimize space. Retailers generally seek to customize product displaysto align with store-level objectives. The design and manufacture ofproduct displays consider variables that include a store's physicallayout, the store's location, the time of year the product display isused, the type and weight of products within the product display, andthe product display's geometric structure. Because of the variablesinvolved, the number of possible product display designs is endless.Retailers and manufacturers continually attempt to improve productdisplay designs within manufacturing capabilities.

SUMMARY

At a high level, aspects described herein relate to processes fordesigning and manufacturing product displays. In particular aspects,methods of manufacturing product displays include manufacturing productdisplays based on a product display design option that is generatedusing a computerized product display design method. Other aspects relateto computer programs, systems, and methods that implement a productdisplay design model to generate a product display design option formanufacturing a corresponding product display.

To design a product display, the product display design model isexecuted on a computing device to provide product display designoptions. Each product display design option corresponds to a design fora product display. One or more of the product display design options canbe selected to manufacture the corresponding product displays.

To generate the product display design options, the product displaydesign model receives inputs that can include any of a target totalproduct count, product types, a target mix ratio, and a product displaytype. The target total product count is the sum of products to bepresented by the product display. The product types identify which of avariety of different products is to be presented by the product display,while the target mix ratio identifies the proportional amount of eachproduct type. And the product display type indicates the structuralcharacteristics of the desired product display, such as a stand-alonedisplay, a countertop display, a hanging display, and the like.

The product display design model uses the inputs to identify displayunit types associated with the product display type, cartridge typesassociated with the display unit types, and volume parameters thatindicate the volume of space that define the products, cartridges, anddisplay units. The volume parameters for each of the products,cartridges, and display units (also called standardized units) arepredetermined and stored as part of a product display dataset. Using thevolume parameters, the product display design model identifies geometricarrangements of the product within the cartridges and the cartridgeswithin the display units. Each of the product display design optionsgenerated by the product display design model comprises one of thegeometric arrangements.

The product display design model selects one or more of the productdisplay design options for manufacturing the corresponding productdisplay. Each product display design option has an actual total productcount and an actual mix ratio that is based on the geometric arrangementassociated with the product display design option. The product displaydesign model compares the actual total product count to the target totalproduct count and the actual mix ratio to the target mix ratio. Theproduct display design options are ranked, where the highest rankedproduct display design options having actual values closest to thetarget values based on the comparisons. The product display design modelmay then select one or more of the highest ranked product display designoptions for manufacturing a product display.

A manufacturing device is used to form display unit blanks, cartridgeblanks, and any other additional design features based on the one ormore selected product display design options. The display unit blanksare configured to be constructed into display units, while the cartridgeblanks are configured to be constructed into cartridges. The productdisplay design option provides instructions for assembling theconstructed display units and cartridges, each of which comprisesproducts of one product type, into the product display.

This summary is intended to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that is further described in the Detailed Descriptionsection of this disclosure. The Summary is not intended to identify keyor essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intendedto be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter. Additional objects, advantages, and novel features of thetechnology will be set forth in part in the description which follows,and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art uponexamination of the disclosure or learned through practice of thetechnology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present technology is described in detail below with reference tothe attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an example operating environment suitablefor use in implementing the present technology, in accordance with anaspect described herein;

FIG. 2 is an example product display designer suitable for designingproduct displays, in accordance with an aspect described herein;

FIG. 3 illustrates two example products of different product types, inaccordance with an aspect described herein;

FIGS. 4A-4B illustrate an example cartridge with its associatedcartridge blank, in accordance with an aspect described herein;

FIGS. 5A-5B illustrate another example cartridge with its associatedcartridge blank, in accordance with an aspect described herein;

FIG. 6 illustrates some example product displays that can be designedand manufactured using the disclosed technology, in accordance with anaspect described herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example display unit usable with the productdisplays of FIG. 6 , in accordance with an aspect described herein;

FIG. 8 illustrates several example cartridge location arrangements on adisplay unit shelf that can be identified using the product displaydesigner of FIG. 2 , in accordance with an aspect described herein;

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of an example method for manufacturing aproduct display designed using a product display design model, inaccordance with an aspect described herein;

FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of another example method for manufacturing aproduct display designed using a product display design model, inaccordance with an aspect described herein;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a computerized method for designing aproduct display for manufacture, in accordance with an aspect describedherein; and

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example operating environment in whichembodiments of the present technology may be employed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Throughout this disclosure, various terminology is used to describe howto design and manufacture product displays. The following definitionsare provided to aid in better understanding the disclosed technology. Itis intended that the definitions be used as a guide, and that someflexibility should be applied when interpreting the terminology based onthe context in which it is used.

“Products” broadly include any tangible item. Within the context of thisdisclosure, products usually include tangible items provided for sale ata physical location, such as a retailer. Products can be separated into“product types.” A product type defines products that are the same inthat they include the same structural and compositional characteristic.For instance, two products that are the same tangible item are bothconsidered to be the same product type. Since a product is a tangibleitem, the product occupies a volume of space. The volume of spaceoccupied by the product is called the “product volume.” Each product ofthe same product type will have the same product volume.

“Product displays” generally include any structure that is designed topresent a product. There are various types of product display designs,such as a stand-alone display that supports itself and rises upward topresent products, a counter type display configured to present productson a countertop, and a hanging display that is supported from anotherobject when presenting products. Each of these, among other examples, isreferred to as a “product display type.” A product is presented when itis visibly observable by someone at the physical location.

Product displays comprise individual “display units.” One or moredisplay units may be grouped together to form the product display.Display units generally comprise different types that can be associatedwith different product display types, which are referred to as “displayunit types.” Display units of the same display unit type each have thesame structural characteristics. Display units comprise a “display unitvolume,” which is the volume of space associated with each display unitthat is designated to receive and hold cartridges.

A “cartridge” is an individual unit that is configured to hold products.Cartridges can generally be placed within display units in variousarrangements, thus allowing the products held by the cartridges to havevarious arrangements that can be presented by the product display. Acartridge also occupies a volume of space that is called a “cartridgevolume.” Cartridges can also comprise different cartridge types. A“cartridge type” distinguishes between cartridges that have differentstructural characteristics, such as different volumes or geometricshapes. Two cartridges having the same shape and volume are part of thesame cartridge type.

“Standardized units” include products, cartridges, and display units.What is meant by “standardized” is that each product, cartridge, anddisplay unit is defined by a volume of space that it occupies (in thecase of products and cartridges) or that it designates for use inholding other standardized units (in the case of display units). Here,the specific volume of space for standardized units comprises productvolumes, cartridge volumes, and display unit volumes. Thus, each productassociated with the same product type product type has the same productvolume, each cartridge associated with the same cartridge type has thesame cartridge volume, and each display unit associated with the samedisplay unit type has the same display unit volume. The volume of eachof the standardized units can be described by “volume parameters,” whichare measurements that can be used to determine the volume or othergeometric characteristics of the standardized units. Volume parametersinclude measurements such as length, width, height, radius, angles, andthe like.

A “product display design model” generally describes a rule-based,machine-executable operation or series of operations that receivesvarious inputs, including one or more of the standardized units, andoutputs product display design options. A “product display designoption” describes a product display by indicating the display units, thecartridges, and the products, and the arrangement of each within theproduct display.

Historically, the process of designing product displays has been anintensive endeavor. Small retailers had a limited number of predesignedoptions from which to choose. In many cases, these predesigned optionsdid not meet all of the retailers' criteria because either the productdisplay presented too many or too few products, or the product displaydid not present an ideal mix ratio of products. Even though predesignedoptions were not ideal, small retailers had no other choice due to thelaborious and time intensive, manual task of designing and manufacturingproduct displays. Larger retailers, on the other hand, would oftenengage product manufactures to design a product display specifically forthe retailer. However, this too was a challenging task because manylarger retailers have store locations spread across different regions.Thus, while one product display worked for one location, that sameproduct display might not meet the specific needs of another location.There was no practical way to design different product displays fordifferent locations.

These challenges stem from the demanding task of actually designing theproduct displays. Historical approaches for designing product displaysrequired design, marketing, and accounting teams to each assess a retaillocation and determine the best type of product display design. It wasnot just impractical, but nearly impossible, to make these types ofassessments for every single retail location, as the best design for aproduct display for each of the different locations was one of aninfinite number of possible product display designs.

The past approaches for designing product displays required suchextensive design because the historically performed manual methods couldnot be computerized. At most, the design team would use a computer-basedimage program to draw out product displays conceived by the team'simagination. The design of the product display itself, however, couldnot be generated by a computer because of the infinite number ofpossible outcomes and no limit on the number of possible designs.Additionally, unlike typical computational problems, traditionalattempts have failed to solve the problem of computationally designing aproduct display because there is no objectively correct identifiableoutput for a model to determine. In essence, with an unlimited number ofoptions for each variable, computers were unable to generate productdisplay design outputs.

The technology presented herein allows a computer, for the first time,to fully design a product display. Unlike the traditional manual methodsdescribed, the disclosed technology defines specific volumes of spaceoccupied or used by standardized units. The products, cartridges, anddisplay units that form the product displays have known product volumes,cartridge volumes, and display unit volumes. By doing this, it ispossible to determine a finite number of arrangements when products areoriented within cartridges and cartridges are oriented within displayunits.

For example, the total product volume occupied by any given number ofproducts cannot be greater than a cartridge volume in which the productsare placed. However, the products can be arranged within the cartridgeusing different orientations. In doing so, some arrangements allow thecartridge to hold more products, while the cartridge holds fewerproducts when the products are in a different arrangement. Thissimilarly applies to arranging cartridges within display units. In thisway, the number of possible geometric arrangements is limited to afinite number, thus allowing a computer to accomplish the task ofdesigning product displays. As a result, product displays can beobjectively designed in a manner of minutes, as opposed to the days, andeven weeks, it took using the subjective traditional manual methods.

One example computer-implemented method that can be employed to achievethese benefits includes receiving volume parameters for standardizedunits. The standardized units comprise products, cartridges, and displayunits. Here, the display units are configured to hold the cartridges,while the cartridges are configured to hold the products.

Each of the standardized units has been defined in terms of its volumeparameters, which describes the geometric structure. The volume occupiedor used by each standardized unit can be determined from the volumeparameters. For instance, a product (such as a chocolate bar) has alength, height, and width. Each product of the same product type (i.e.,the same chocolate bar) has the same length, height, and width. Thus,the product volume can be determined using these parameters and it isthe same, or “standardized,” for each product of the same product type.

Similarly, volume parameters can be defined for cartridges. Thecartridges may also include various cartridge types, such as a fullcartridge or a half cartridge. Each cartridge of the same cartridge typehas the same volume parameters. In some aspects of the disclosedtechnology and within the industry, generally, a cartridge may also bereferred to as a “carton.”

Display units can also include volume parameters describing thegeometric structure of the display units. The volume parameters fordisplay units may be defined in different ways. One manner of definingthe volume parameters for display units is to define the volumeparameters relative to the volume of space configured to hold thecartridges. That is because some structural parts of display units couldbe used for purposes other than presenting products, such as advertisingspace, a stand to hold the display unit, an opening for hanging thedisplay unit from a support, and so forth. By defining the display unitvolume using the volume parameters in terms of the volume configured tohold the cartridges, the computer performing the method can easilydetermine how the cartridges can be arranged within the display unit,which will be described in more detail.

In general, volume parameters can be defined for existing products,cartridges, and display units by measuring each product type, cartridgetype, and display unit type, and storing this data in computer-readablemedia, thus standardizing the existing products, cartridges, and displayunits.

Volume parameters can be defined for newly created standardized units.In creating new standardized units, the standardized units can bedesigned so that they are modular with respect to the other standardizedunits. Using a one-dimensional example for simplicity, a first producthas a width of 1 inch, a second product has a width of 2 inches, and afirst cartridge has a width of 2 inches, a second cartridge has a widthof 4 inches, and a display unit has a shelf length of 12 inches. Here,the design has a modular format with respect to the width (one of thevolume parameters in this example). There are different arrangements ofthe first and second products within the first and second cartridges.There are also various different arrangements of the first and secondcartridges that can be constructed on the shelf. This modularity can bedetermined for all volume parameter of products, cartridges, and displayunits. Additional modularity is achieved by configuring a display unitdesign so that one display unit type is usable with different productdisplay types.

The defined volume parameters of the standardized units can then bestored on computer-readable media as a product display dataset forrecall when designing a product display using a product display designmodel.

A request can be received to design a product display. The request mayspecify various criteria when designing the new product display,including one or more product types, a target total product count, aproduct display type, and a target mix ratio. Here, the target totalproduct count is the total number of products, of all product types,within the product display, and the target mix ratio indicates aproportion of the product types relative to the target total productcount. For instance, the request might include white chocolate, darkchocolate, and milk chocolate bars as product types, a target totalproduct count of 100 products, a freestanding tower as the productdisplay type, and a target mix ratio of 10% white chocolate bars, 25%dark chocolate bars, and 65% milk chocolate bars.

A product display design model can be used to identify geometricarrangements for each of the standardized units related to the request.That is, the products corresponding to the product types are spatiallyarranged within cartridges. The cartridge types can be identified basedon display unit types that identified based on the received productdisplay type. The cartridges are also spatially arranged within thedisplay unit. Put another way, the geometric arrangements of the productvolume within the cartridge volume are identified, while the geometricarrangements for the cartridge volume within the display unit volume areidentified. In doing this, there is a finite number of geometricarrangements identifiable from these standardized units.

The identified geometric arrangements of standardized units are includedas product display design options. Each product display design optionhas a specific arrangement of products within the cartridges and thecartridges within the display unit. An actual total product count and anactual mix ratio is associated with each of the product display designoptions. That is because each geometric arrangement includes aparticular number of products for each product type, the sum of whichprovides the actual total product count, and the proportion of productsfor each product type relative to the actual total product countprovides the actual mix ratio.

A product display design option can then be selected from among theproduct display design options that have been identified. This may bedone by comparing the target total product count to the actual totalproduct count or comparing the target mix ratio to the actual mix ratioto identify which of the product display design options most closelyfits the initial request. A lowest average difference is one suitablemethod for comparing the target values and the actual values todetermine which product display design option is closest to the initialrequest.

The product display design option can be provided for manufacturing theproduct display. Display unit blanks can be formed such that they can beconstructed into a display unit of the product display. The number ofcartridges and the cartridge types of the product display design optioncan be used to form corresponding cartridge blanks that, whenconstructed, provide the physical structure of the cartridges for usewith the display units in assembling the product display. The geometricarrangement of the product display design option indicates the producttype held by each cartridge and indicates which locations to place thefilled cartridges within the constructed display units. When assembledaccording to the arrangement of the product display design option, theresulting structure is a completed product display.

The computer-implemented method described is just one example of thistechnology. Various other computer-implemented methods, media, andsystems for designing product displays, along with methods ofmanufacturing product displays, are further described and can be derivedfrom the description that follows, which references the drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram of example operating environment 100suitable for use in implementing the described technology. Generally,operating environment 100 is suitable for designing and manufacturingproduct displays. Among other components not shown, operatingenvironment 100 includes client device 102A-102N, manufacturing device104, and server 106, each communicating through network 108. Operatingenvironment 100 is further illustrated with storage 110 in communicationwith network 108.

Operating environment 100 is illustrated as having client devices 102Athrough 102N, which are in communication via network 108. Client device102A is illustrated as having an ellipsis drawn between it and clientdevice 102N, which is meant to indicate that any number of clientdevices may be associated with operating environment 100, including oneor more client devices. As will be further described, this arrangementis only an example. In another arrangement, one or more of clientdevices 102A through 102N includes aspects of server 106. In anotherspecific arrangement, manufacturing device 104 hosts one or more of theclient devices. Again, all distributed and integrated arrangements ofthe components is contemplated herein.

Client devices, such as client devices 102A through 102N, can be anytype of computing device capable of being operated by a client, whichmay be any person or entity that designs, manufactures, requests, oruses product displays. In some implementations, client devices 102Athrough 102N are the type of computing device described in relation toFIG. 12 . For example, client device 102A may be embodied as a personalcomputer (PC), a laptop computer, a mobile device, a smartphone, atablet computer, a smart watch, a wearable computer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a global positioning system (GPS) or device, a videoplayer, a handheld communications device, a gaming device or system, anentertainment system, a vehicle computer system, an embedded systemcontroller, a remote control, an appliance, a consumer electronicdevice, a workstation, any combination of these delineated devices, orany other suitable device. Although reference has been made only toclient device 102A, it is intended here and throughout this disclosurethat client devices 102A through 102N are equally considered.

Client device 102A can include one or more processors and one or morecomputer-readable media. The computer-readable media may includecomputer-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors.The instructions may be embodied by one or more applications.

Applications executed by client device 102A facilitate the exchange ofinformation between client devices 102A through 102N, manufacturingdevice 104, server 106, and storage 110. Among other functions, anapplication executed by client device 102A may facilitate receivinginformation at the client device, such as a request for a productdisplay, including information related to target total product counts,target mix ratios, product types, product display types, and the likeand provide this information to other components of operatingenvironment 100. The application may facilitate receiving informationfrom manufacturing device 104 and server 106, and retrieval ofinformation from storage 110, such as a product display design option,and providing it to a client associated with client device 102A.

An application may take the form of a web application, which can run ina web browser, and could be hosted at least partially on the server-sideof operating environment 100. In some cases, the application isintegrated into the operating system (e.g., as a service or program). Inother cases, the application may be integrated with product displaydesigner 112, which is illustrated as residing on server 106. It iscontemplated that “application” be interpreted broadly.

Manufacturing device 104 is generally suitable for manufacturing all orportions of display blanks, cartridge blanks, and any other structuralfeature of a product display. Some manufacturing devices and methods ofusing the devices that are suitable for use with the disclosedtechnology can be found in U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/849,243,filed on May 17, 2019, and entitled “Product Display Tower and Method ofMaking,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.Manufacturing device 104 may comprises a cardboard cutting machine orsystem assembly. There are numerous cardboard cutting machines suitablefor forming cardboard blanks that can be used. Some examples includeindustrial cardboard cutting machines manufactured by Zemat Technology,Bosch, and Schubert. While display units and cartridges are many timesformed from cardboard, other materials may be used as well. Forinstance, corrugated plastic materials are also suitable. As such,manufacturing device 104 may comprise a machine for forming or cuttingcorrugated plastics into desired structures. Manufacturing device 104may also include a three-dimensional printing device that can form adesired three-dimensional printed structure, such as display blanks andcartridge blanks, from a number of three-dimensional printing materials.Other devices and the operation of these devices will be known by thoseof ordinary skill in the art, and they are intended to be within thescope of this disclosure. Specific devices and their operational methodsthat form display blanks, cartridge blanks, and other structuralfeatures are not described in great detail.

Server 106 generally supports product display designer 112. Server 106includes one or more processors, and may include one or morecomputer-readable media. The computer-readable media includescomputer-readable instructions executable by the one or more processors.The instructions may optionally implement one or more components ofproduct display designer 112, described in additional detail below withreference to FIG. 2 . Server 106 may be remote from client device 102Aor integrated with client device 102A.

Storage 110 generally stores information including data, computerinstructions (e.g., software program instructions, routines, orservices), or models used in embodiments of the described technologies.Although depicted as a single database component, storage 110 may beembodied as one or more data stores or may be in the cloud. Memory 1212of FIG. 12 is one example suitable for use as storage 110.

Components shown in FIG. 1 are illustrated as communicating via network108, which may be wired, wireless, or both. Network 108 can includemultiple networks, or a network of networks, but is shown in simple formso as not to obscure aspects of the present disclosure. By way ofexample, network 108 can include one or more wide area networks (WANs),one or more local area networks (LANs), one or more public networks suchas the Internet, or one or more private networks. Where network 108includes a wireless telecommunications network, components such as abase station, a communications tower, or even access points (as well asother components) may provide wireless connectivity. Networkingenvironments are commonplace in offices, enterprise-wide computernetworks, intranets, and the Internet. Accordingly, network 108 is notdescribed in significant detail.

With continued reference to FIG. 1 , and with reference to all of thefigures generally, it should be understood that this and otherarrangements described herein are set forth only as examples. Otherarrangements and elements (e.g., machines, interfaces, functions,orders, and groupings of functions, etc.) can be used in addition to orinstead of those shown, and some elements may be omitted altogether forthe sake of clarity. It should also be understood that any number ofuser devices, servers, and other components might be employed withinoperating environment 100, and each are intended to be within the scopeof the present disclosure. Components of operating environment 100 maycomprise a single device or multiple devices cooperating in adistributed environment or in the cloud.

Turning now to FIG. 2 , FIG. 2 illustrates example product displaydesigner 200. FIG. 2 is just one example suitable for using thetechnology. Product display designer 200 is suitable for employment asproduct display designer 112 of FIG. 1 . Many of the components ofproduct display designer 200 include functional entities that may beimplemented as discrete or distributed components or in conjunction withother components, and in any suitable combination and location. Variousfunctions described herein as being performed by one or more entitiesmay be carried out by hardware, firmware, or software. For instance,some functions may be carried out by a processor executing instructionsstored in memory as further described with reference to FIG. 12 .

In general, product display designer 200 receives inputs 202, such astarget mix ratio 203, product type 204 (which is intended to illustrateone or more product types), target total product count 205, and productdisplay type 206, and outputs product display design option 208. Productdisplay designer 200 of FIG. 2 includes product display design model210, which when executed, determines product display design option 208from inputs 202.

The example product display design model 210 comprises cartridge anddisplay unit selector 212, geometric arrangement identifier 214, productdisplay design option specification determiner 216, and product displaydesign option selector 218. Each of these functional entities isillustrated and discussed in order to more clearly describe one examplesystem for creating and executing product display design model 210.

As noted, product display designer 200 communicates with storage 220 tostore and retrieve information usable or determined by product displaydesign model 210. Storage 220 is illustrated as comprising productdisplay dataset 222, which is used by product display design model 210to determine product display design option 208.

Product display dataset 222 generally comprises information describingstandardized units and volume parameters for each of the standardizedunits. Initially, product display dataset 222 may be generated bydefining the standardized units. The standardized units comprise theproducts, cartridges, and display units for which the volume parametersare known.

FIG. 3 illustrates two products associated with different product types.FIG. 3 is illustrated to show volume parameters for various exampleproduct types, although it will be recognized that there can be manyother products types that have any number of volume parameter values.First product 300 illustrates a first product type having a length l, awidth w, and a height h. In the specific example illustrated by FIG. 3 ,first product 300 has a length of 5.3 inches, a width of 2.1 inches, anda height of 0.3 inches. As noted, different product types may havedifferent volume parameters. As such, second product 302 of FIG. 3 isprovided to illustrate a second product type also having a length l, awidth w, and a height h. Second product 302 is illustrated having alength of 6.3 inches, a width of 2.3 inches, and a height of 0.4 inches.It is noted that, while some product types have different volumeparameters than others, there are cases where different product typeshave the same volume parameters, but the products have differentcompositions (such as a chocolate bar made of milk chocolate versus achocolate bar made of dark chocolate). Information about the variousproduct types, along with their respective volume parameters andcompositions, can be stored within storage 220 as part of productdisplay dataset 222.

Product display dataset 222 can include standardized units defined fromexisting products, cartridges, and display units by standardizing theunits, i.e., determining each unit's volumetric parameters. The use ofproduct displays for presenting products is not new to retail. As such,these existing product displays can be standardized for use by productdisplay designer 200. To standardized these existing units, the volumeparameters for existing products and displays, and if available,cartridges, is measured. As existing product displays were not designedfor use by product display design model 210, there may not be cartridgesdesigned to fit within a display unit of an existing product display.Nevertheless, product display design model 210 can still use each ofthese existing units when they are standardized by defining them interms of their volume parameters and other structural characteristics.Once the volume parameters are measured for the existing products andproduct displays, the information can be stored within storage 220 aspart of product display dataset 222, thus defining them as standardizedunits usable by product display design model 210.

While existing products and displays may be suitable for use, newproduct displays and cartridges can be created and defined asstandardized units. New display units and cartridges can be created anddefined so that they are modular. One method to create modularstandardized units is to define volume parameters of smallerstandardized units as divisible by volume parameters of largerstandardized units. For instance, using a one-dimensional example forsimplicity, a length of a shelf within a display unit is 12 inches. Formodularity, one cartridge type could have a length of 12 inches, whileanother has a length of 6 inches, yet another has a length of 4 inches,yet another has a length of 3 inches, and so forth. Defining the volumeparameters in this way allows for numerous combinations of cartridges onthe display unit shelf, while also limiting the number of possiblearrangements of the cartridges on the shelf to a finite number. One ormore, or all of the volume parameters can be defined in this manner,such that the cartridges are modular with respect to the display units.Put another way, the cartridge volume is modular with respect to thedisplay unit volume. By making the cartridges modular with respect tothe display units, the display units are configured to hold thecartridges.

Cartridges can be designed based on the sizes of various product types.Typically, there may be a large variety of product types, each havingdifferent volume parameters. One method of defining the volumeparameters for new cartridges is to identify the distribution of volumeparameter values for a volume parameter across all product types. Volumeparameters for a cartridge can be based on the largest volume parametermeasured for all the product types. For instance, if a largest productlength is 10 inches, then the cartridge length for the cartridge mightalso be 10 inches. However, volume parameter values for the cartridgescan be based on any product volume parameter, the largest volumeparameter value being just one example. This can be done for one ormore, or all volume parameters when designing the cartridge.

Another method of designing cartridges is to design cartridges based onthe display units. One example would be to design a cartridge having acartridge volume equivalent to the display unit volume available forholding the cartridge. Various cartridge types can be designed havingvolume parameters that are divisions of the volume parameters associatedwith the display unit volume, such as the example previously providedhaving a display unit shelf length of 12 inches, and the cartridge typeshaving lengths that are divisions of 12 inches, e.g., 6 inches, 4inches, 3 inches, etc.

FIGS. 4A-4B and FIGS. 5A-5B are provided as example cartridges forholding products that have been designed for modular use with displayunits, such as the display units associated with the product displaysillustrated in FIG. 6 . In general, cartridges are configured to holdproducts when the product volume is less than the cartridge volume.

Looking first to FIG. 4A, example first cartridge 400 is illustrated asholding products 402. The product volume of each product within products402 and the product volume sum of products 402 in first cartridge 400are each less than the cartridge volume. First cartridge 400 has beenlabeled with some of the volume parameters that could be used todetermine its product volume and define first cartridge 400. Here, thelength of first cartridge 400 has been labeled l, the width labeled w,and the height labeled h.

With reference to both FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B, FIG. 4B illustrates firstcartridge blank 404. First cartridge blank 404 is an example cartridgeblank associated with the same cartridge type as first cartridge 400.First cartridge blank 404 of FIG. 4B has also been labeled with some ofits volume parameters, including length l, width w, and height h. Asfirst cartridge blank 404 is the same cartridge type as first cartridge400, first cartridge blank 404 can be constructed into a cartridgehaving the same volume parameters as first cartridge 400. Thus, in thisexample, length l, width w, and height h for each of first cartridgeblank 404 and first cartridge 400 are the same.

As indicated, first cartridge blank 404 can be constructed into acartridge that is the same as first cartridge 400. Dotted lines areprovided in FIG. 4B to illustrate folding points to construct firstcartridge blank 404 into a cartridge, such as first cartridge 400.Additionally, FIG. 4B provides some example values for volume parameterssuitable for use. First cartridge blank 404 could be constructed into acartridge having a length of 15 inches, a width of 7 inches, and aheight of 4 inches.

As noted, various cartridge types can be used to increase the number ofarrangements of cartridges located within a display unit, yet stillkeeping the total number of arrangements to a finite number. FIGS. 5A-5Bare provided to illustrate another cartridge of a different cartridgetype suitable for use with the technology. FIG. 5A illustrates secondcartridge 500 holding products 502. Similarly, the product volume foreach product of products 502 and the sum of the product volume for eachof products 502 is less than the cartridge volume of second cartridge500. Second cartridge 500 has been labeled with some of its volumeparameters, including length l, width w, and height h.

Referencing FIG. 5B, the figure illustrates second cartridge blank 504.Second cartridge blank 504 is an example cartridge blank that isassociated with the same cartridge type as second cartridge 500.Constructing second cartridge blank 504 into a cartridge would provide acartridge having the same volume parameters as second cartridge 500 inFIG. 5A, Second cartridge blank 504 has also labeled with length l,width w, and height h indicating its volume parameters.

FIG. 5B also provides some example volume parameters suitable for usewith the technology. Here, the volume parameters for an examplecartridge, which are illustrated with respect to second cartridge blank504, include a length l that is 7.5 inches, a width w that is 7 inches,and a height h that is 4 inches.

The example cartridge type that is associated with second cartridge 500and second cartridge blank 504 include a volume parameter for length(7.5 inches) that is one half the volume parameter for length of theexample cartridge type associated with first cartridge 400 and firstcartridge blank 404 of FIGS. 4A-4B. All else being equal, the cartridgevolume of the cartridge type associated with FIGS. 5A-5B is one-half thecartridge volume of the cartridge type associated with FIGS. 4A-4B.Regarding these specific examples, the cartridge volume of the cartridgetype of FIGS. 5A-5B is 210 cubic inches, while the cartridge volume ofthe cartridge type associated with FIGS. 4A-4B is 420 cubic inches. Thecartridge volume for the geometric shape of first cartridge 400 andsecond cartridge 500 is calculated by multiplying length l, width w, andheight h. These example cartridge types and their cartridge volumes aresimply examples.

It will be understood that the cartridges can take any shape or design.Various cartridge types can be designed based on one or more volumeparameters of specific product types or may be designed based on one ormore volume parameters of specific display unit types. It will also beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art how to determine acartridge volume for a cartridge type, including cartridge types ofdifferent geometric shapes. It will also be understood that one or more,or all of the volume parameters can vary between cartridge types so thata variety of different cartridges can be used by product display designmodel 210 of product display designer 200.

As noted, display units can also be created and defined as standardizedunits for use by product display design model 210. Display units canalso include various display unit types that are configured to be usedwith one or more product display types. In general, a display unitcomprises all or a portion of a product display and is used to presentproducts. FIG. 6 provides illustrations of some example product displays602, 604, 606, and 608 comprising different product display types anddifferent display unit types.

First product display 602 is associated with a first product displaytype that is a stand-alone type product display comprising first base610 and first display unit 612. First base 610 is designed to providesupport and additional elevation for first display unit 612, which restsatop first base 610 to present products, such as products 614. Firstdisplay unit 612 is also illustrated comprising first top piece 616,which may be used as an area to display relevant advertising or productinformation. First display unit 612 comprises three product areas 618,620, and 622 that are configured to hold cartridges with products, suchas products 614. Additional detail on the product areas of the displayunits will be discussed. First product display 602 is suitable as anon-the-counter display that could be used in areas already having asurface that is elevated, such as a countertop or a checkout area.

Second product display 604 is associated with a second product displaytype that is a hanging type product display comprising second displayunit 624. Second display unit 624 is the same display unit type as firstdisplay unit 612. Second display unit 624 is illustrated as havingsecond top piece 626. Second top piece 626 comprises opening 628.Opening 628 can receive support 630. In this way, second product display604 can hang from a particular location to present products, such asproducts 632. Second display unit 624 is illustrated as also havingthree product areas 634, 636, and 638 that are configured to holdcartridges having products, such as products 632.

In some cases, second display unit 624 is the same display unit type asfirst display unit 612. This provides a modular aspect to display units,allowing one display unit type to be used with different productdisplays. Put another way, a display unit can be interchangeable betweenproduct displays, including some product displays of different productdisplay types. In general, different product display types may includethe same display unit type and have different additional features thatchange the functionality of each product display, such as first toppiece 616, second top piece 626 having opening 628, and first base 610.

Another example product display is provided by third product display606, which is associated with a third product display type. Thirdproduct display 606 comprises two display units, including third displayunit 640 and fourth display unit 642. Third product display 606 alsoincludes second base 644 and third top 646. While both third displayunit 640 and fourth display unit 642 are illustrated with three productareas, product area 650 holding products 648 within a cartridge (notillustrated) is identified as an example. The third product display typealso takes advantage of the modular design of display units. Here, thirddisplay unit 640 and fourth display unit 642 are the same display unittype as first display unit 612 and second display unit 624. In general,some display units can be stacked or grouped so as to increase the totalnumber of products being displayed by a product display, such as thirdproduct display 606 having third display unit 640 stacked atop fourthdisplay unit 642, which is further set on second base 644 to providesupport and additional overall height for third product display 606. Theproduct display type of third product display 606 is suitable as astand-alone type display that sits at floor level and extends upward.

Fourth product display 608 provides an example of a fourth productdisplay type. Fourth product display 608 does not share a display unittype that is the same as first display unit 612, second display unit624, third display unit 640, or fourth display unit 642. Instead, fifthdisplay unit 652 is a different display unit type. Fifth display unit652 comprises first shelf 658, second shelf 660, and third shelf 662that are configured to hold cartridges and products. Fourth productdisplay 608 includes third base 654 and fourth top 656. Fourth productdisplay 608 is another example of a stand-alone type product display forpresenting products.

As illustrated by FIG. 6 , a display unit can be included as part of aplurality of display units and as part of additional features, such as atop or base, when the display unit is part of a product display. When aproduct display includes more than one display unit or a display unitwith additional features, the display units and the additional featurescan be separately manufactured pieces that are coupled together, forinstance, by using tape, glue, clamps, friction, and the like. Inanother aspect, the display units and the additional features can beformed as a single article, which may or may not have points ofdelineation.

Display units can be designed so that they are configured to holdcartridges that have products, so as to present the products as part ofa product display. FIG. 7 is provided to illustrate more detailedaspects of display unit 700. In general, display units can be designedso that they can be combined together and with additional features, suchas a base or top, in order to form a product display. One method todesign display units with this modularity is to design display unitsthat are symmetrical, such as example display unit 700. Symmetricaldisplay units may stack together and side-by-side.

Display units can be designed having a recessed area for receiving andholding a cartridge. As illustrated in FIG. 7 , display unit 700includes product area 702 where products will be presented. Product area702 can correspond to a recessed area that is configured to receive acartridge or a plurality of cartridges and hold the cartridges into adisplay position where the products are visible.

In general, the volume parameters defined for the display unit can bebased on the recessed area configured to receive the cartridge. That is,one or more of the volume parameters of the display unit can besubstantially equal to one or more volume parameters of a cartridge. Insome cases, the one or more volume parameters of the display unit issubstantially equal to a volume parameter of a largest cartridge type.In another example, the display unit volume for the recessed areaconfigured to receive the cartridge is substantially equal to acartridge volume. Likewise, the display unit volume for the recessedarea configured to receive the cartridge is substantially equal to acartridge volume associated with a largest cartridge type.

For the purposes of describing the technology, substantially equal isintended to mean the same measured value plus or minus 10%. For example,if a length of a cartridge is 12 inches, a substantially equalcorresponding length of a display unit location recessed for holding thecartridge can be 12 inches±10% (1.2 inches). This nomenclature is usedto allow for some tolerances, such as the thickness of the cartridgematerial and the display unit material, and also because measurements ofdifferent objects do not generally yield a precisely equal value, eventhough the non-equal values are within manufacturing specifications andwould be suitable for allowing the display unit to hold the cartridge.When practicing the invention, tighter tolerances may be used, such as aplus or minus 1%, 0.5%, or 0.1% difference between the one or morevolume parameters of display units and cartridges.

Continuing with FIG. 7 , display unit 700 includes a product area thatcorresponds to a recessed area configured to hold a cartridge. Therecessed area can be used to define the volume parameters for displayunit 700. Here, the volume parameters are exemplified by and labeled aslength l, width w, and height h. As noted, one or more of the volumeparameters may be substantially equal to one or more volume parametersfor a cartridge, so that display unit 700 is configured to hold thecartridge in the recessed area.

Each of the cartridges and display units discussed is provided as anexample, and is not intended to limit the invention to a particulartype, size, or geometric shape of cartridge and display units. It willbe recognized that there are many different combinations of cartridgesand display units that can be designed to generate various productdisplays. It will also be recognized that various combinations ofadditional features, such a base or top, of product displays can beincluded in the product display, along with the cartridges and displayunits. Other additional features can be included with product displaysto provide area for advertising, product description, or includeadditional geometric features with particular designs or shapes, such asa product display that is in the shape of the product or a particularobject. All are intended to be within the scope of the technologydescribed herein. Defining the volume parameters of cartridges based onthe area configured to hold products and the volume parameters ofdisplay units based on the area configured to hold cartridges is onemethod that will enable the disclosed technology to work for all productdisplay types.

One method of creating a cartridge design of a cartridge type or adisplay unit design for a display unit type is to use athree-dimensional modeling software to defined the geometric structureof a cartridge or display unit, e.g., a top, bottom, sidewalls, base,etc. The volume parameters can be defined using different values tocreate different cartridge types that are configured to be held byrecessed areas of the display unit. Having designed the cartridge, thecartridge blank can be designed. Likewise, having designed the displayunit, a display unit blank can be designed. This can be done using thesame three-dimensional modeling program. One of ordinary skill in theart will understand how to design the cartridge blank having beenprovided with the designed cartridge, and similarly, will understand howto design a display unit blank having been provided the designed displayunit. However, briefly, one method of designing cartridge blanks for acartridge is to represent the three-dimensional cartridge as atwo-dimensional shape. Similarly, the three-dimensional display unit canbe represented as a two-dimensional shape. The two-dimensional shapescorresponding to the cartridge and the display unit provide a frameworkfor the cartridge blank and the display unit blank, respectively. Eachcan be represented as one or more distinct two-dimensional pieces.

Having described examples of products, cartridges, and display units,and with reference back to FIG. 2 , information related to each of thesestandardized units can be stored within storage 220 as part of productdisplay dataset 222 and can be used by the product display design model210 of product display designer 200. For example, information related toall of the measured values, including values for the volume parameters,can be included within product display dataset 222. Other measuredvalues that relate to additional features of a product display oradditional design features of a display unit not described by thedisplay unit volume can be included within product display dataset 222.Additionally, product composition can also be included within productdisplay dataset 222. Generally, any information utilized by productdisplay designer 200 and product display design model 210 can be storedas part of product display dataset 222.

In general, product display designer 200 generates product displaydesign options, such as product display design option 208. Productdisplay design model 210 of product display designer 200 receives inputs202 and utilizes product display dataset 222 to output product displaydesign option 208. Inputs 202 may include one or more of target mixratio 203, product type 204, target total product count 205, and productdisplay type 206.

In the example provided by FIG. 2 , product display design model 210begins by employing cartridge and display unit selector 212. In general,cartridge and display unit selector 212 selects cartridge types anddisplay unit types based on inputs 202.

In a specific example, cartridge and display unit selector 212 selectsdisplay unit types based on product display type 206. That is, eachproduct display design type can be associated with one or more displayunit types that make up their associated product displays, which isstored within product display dataset 222. Looking at FIG. 2 as anexample, inputs 202 includes product display type 206, which comprisesthe display unit type associated with display unit 224.

As noted above, product displays can be designed to comprise modular orinterchangeable display units of different display unit types. Cartridgeand display unit selector 212 can select a display unit based on adisplay unit type that has been associated with the product display typeduring design. Cartridge and display unit selector 212 can accessproduct display dataset 222 to identify the display unit type associatedwith product display type 206 received as part of inputs 202. Cartridgeand display unit selector 212 selects the display unit associated withthe identified display unit type.

In some implementations, a product display may comprise multiple displayunits of different display unit types. In such cases, cartridge anddisplay unit selector 212 identifies from product display dataset 222each of the display unit types that are part of the product display typeand selects their associated display units.

Cartridge and display unit selector 212 can select a number of displayunits based on receiving target total product count 205. The selectionmay be further based on target mix ratio 203. For example, a displayunit may have capacity to present a particular number of products. Iftarget total product count 205 is greater than the capacity of thedisplay unit, then cartridge and display unit selector 212 can selectanother display unit of the same type to increase the overall capacitybetween the two display units. This can be done for any number ofproducts and display units.

In another example, the display unit may have capacity to only present aparticular number of products of a target mix ratio. One method ofdetermining the capacity of the display unit is to determine the totalproduct volume of the target total product count with respect to thetarget mix ratio. For instance, if the target total product count is 100and the target mix ratio is 50% coco almond chocolate bars, 30% milkchocolate bars, and 20% chocolate mint bars, then the total productvolume of 50 coco almond chocolate bars, 20 milk chocolate bars, and 20chocolate mint bars is determined by summation of the product volume foreach individual product. If the total product volume is greater than thedisplay unit volume, cartridge and display unit selector 212 can selectanother display unit of the same type to increase the total display unitvolume until it is greater than the total product volume.

Cartridge and display unit selector 212 can also select cartridge types.The cartridge types can be selected based on the selected display unittypes. Each display unit can be configured to hold cartridges of one ormore cartridge types as determined by the design of the display unit.This association is determined and stored within product display dataset222. Cartridge and display unit selector 212 can access product displaydataset 222 to identify one or more of the cartridge types configured tobe held by the selected display unit. Cartridge and display unitselector 212 selects the cartridges associated with the one or moreidentified cartridge types.

In some implementations, a client may provide a selection of a cartridgetype or a display unit type, which is received by product displaydesigner 200.

Display units and cartridges selected by cartridge and display unitselector 212 or received from a client device can be provided togeometric arrangement identifier 214. Generally, geometric arrangementidentifier 214 identifies geometric arrangements of cartridges withindisplay units. In some implementations, geometric arrangement identifier214 identifies arrangements of products held by cartridges within adisplay unit.

Geometric arrangement identifier 214 can identify arrangements ofcartridges within one or more display units, including display units ofthe same display unit type and display units of different display unittypes. Geometric arrangement identifier 214 may identify arrangements ofone or more cartridges within the one or more display units, includingcartridges of the same cartridge type and cartridges of differentcartridge types. In this way, geometric arrangement identifier 214identifies the cartridge location arrangements within display units.

One method employed by geometric arrangement identifier 214 to identifythe cartridge location arrangements within the display units iterativelyidentifies each combination of cartridges within the display units thatmaximizes the display unit volume holding the cartridge of the cartridgearrangement. The iterative identification can be performed for eachcartridge type and each combination of cartridge types.

Using a simple example, and with reference to FIG. 8 , if a display unithas a shelf that is 12 inches in length, 6 inches wide (the depth), andhas a 4-inch space above the shelf where it can hold a cartridge, thenthe display unit volume is 288 cubic inches. FIG. 8 illustrates a frontview of the shelf within each of the dotted boxes. Further, this examplealso has two selected cartridge types, a first cartridge having a lengthof 6 inches, a width of 6 inches, and a height of 4 inches, and a secondcartridge having a length of 3 inches, a width of 6 inches, and a heightof 4 inches. Within FIG. 8 , these are respectively illustrated as6-inch cartridges 802A-B and 3-inch cartridges 808A-D. The 6-inchcartridges 802A-B each have a cartridge volume of 144 cubic inches,while the 3-inch cartridges 808A-D each have a cartridge volume of 72cubic inches.

Geometric arrangement identifier 214 can identify each arrangement ofone cartridge type of the cartridges that maximizes the display unitvolume. Continuing this example, FIG. 8 illustrates first arrangement800 having first 6-inch cartridge 802A positioned on the left side ofthe shelf, relative to the front-facing view. Geometric arrangementidentifier 214 adds second 6-inch cartridge 802B to the right positionof the shelf, as illustrated by second arrangement 804. In firstarrangement 800, the total cartridge volume of first arrangement 800 isless than the display unit volume; however, the display unit volumeoccupied by the total cartridge volume of the cartridges is notmaximized because second 6-inch cartridge 802B can be included withinthe arrangement without the total cartridge volume being greater thanthe display unit volume. Thus, geometric arrangement identifier 214 mayidentify second arrangement 804 as a geometric arrangement, while firstarrangement 800 is not identified as a geometric arrangement. Thisiterative process continues until all possible geometric arrangementsare identified for each cartridge type. As illustrated in FIG. 8 ,geometric arrangement identifier 214 would identify another arrangementusing only 6-inch cartridges 802A-B, shown as third arrangement 806.

Geometric arrangement identifier 214 continues by identifying thegeometric arrangements for each combination of cartridges that maximizesthe display unit volume. As shown in fourth arrangement 810, first6-inch cartridge 802A and first 3-inch cartridge 808A are each arrangedon the shelf. However, another 3-inch cartridge can be added to theshelf without the total cartridge volume being greater than the displayunit volume. Shown in fifth arrangement 812, the shelf includes first6-inch cartridge 802A, first 3-inch cartridge 808A, and second 3-inchcartridge 808B, which maximizes the display unit volume. As such, fiftharrangement 812 can be identified as a geometric arrangement bygeometric arrangement identifier 214. This continues identifyingarrangements that maximize the display unit volume using the combinationof the cartridge types, such as sixth arrangement 814.

Continuing with the example illustrated by FIG. 8 , geometricarrangement identifier 214 identifies all geometric arrangements usingonly 3-inch cartridges 808A-808D. As illustrated, seventh arrangement816 includes first 3-inch cartridge 808A. However, more 3-inch cartridgetypes can be included without the total cartridge volume being greaterthan the display unit volume. As such, seventh arrangement 816 is notidentified as a geometric arrangement of cartridges, while eightharrangement 818 and ninth arrangement 820 of 3-inch cartridges 808A-808Dare identified as geometric arrangements by geometric arrangementidentifier 214 because each maximizes the display unit volume.

It will be understood that FIG. 8 provides some example cartridgearrangements. Many possible geometric arrangements of the cartridgeshave been omitted for clarity.

Using this logic, geometric arrangement identifier 214 can identifygeometric arrangements where the arrangement has a total cartridgevolume that is less than the display unit volume and the display unitvolume occupied by the total cartridge volume is maximized, such thataddition of a cartridge volume of another cartridge of any of theidentified cartridge types would make the total cartridge volume greaterthan the display unit volume.

This is just one example logic that would identify the geometricarrangements. It will be understood that other logics may also identifythe geometric arrangements of cartridges and the display units. Forexample, the logic may maximize the use of a single dimension, asopposed to the three-dimensional volumetric maximization logic. Otherlogics may identify arrangements that are within a predetermined valuefor the dimension or the volume, such as an arrangement where thecartridge volume exceeds a threshold value or percentage of the displayunit volume. For instance, an arrangement can be identified where 70% ofthe display unit volume is occupied. The threshold value could be anypredetermined value. These are intended to be within the scope of thedisclosure and may be used in addition to or in place of the examplemethods described with reference to FIG. 8 .

Having identified the geometric arrangements of cartridges held by thedisplay units, geometric arrangement identifier 214 may determine theproduct arrangements within the display units based on the geometricarrangement of cartridges.

One method for determining product arrangements is to associate eachcartridge of a geometric arrangement of cartridges with one producttype. This can be done for each product type within target mix ratio203. That is, each product type of target mix ratio 203 is representedby association to at least one cartridge. Where all product types arerepresented by at least one cartridge in the geometric arrangements ofcartridges, the geometric arrangement can remain a geometric arrangementfor use by other functions of product display design model 210.Geometric arrangements of cartridges that do not have at least onecartridge for each product type may be excluded from the geometricarrangements. For instance, if there are four cartridges arranged in adisplay unit and the target mix ratio includes a mix of five producttypes, then this arrangement may be excluded, as there are fewercartridges than product types. Additionally, a product type can beassociated with more than one cartridge. For example, if there are threeproduct types and four cartridges in a display unit, then two cartridgeswill have the same product type, while the other two cartridges willhave one of each of the two remaining product types.

Determining the product arrangements for each of the geometricarrangements expands the total number of geometric arrangements. This isbecause some geometric arrangements of cartridges with display units canhave more than one product arrangement.

The geometric arrangements, including the expanded geometricarrangements based on the determining the product arrangements can beincluded as part of a set of product display design options. Forexample, each product display design option is associated with ageometric arrangement of cartridges within one or more display units,and includes a product arrangement where each of the cartridges isassociated with a product type. The product display design options canbe utilized by other functions of product display design model 210, suchas product display design option specification determiner 216.

In general, product display design option specification determiner 216determines actual product display information for product display designoptions. As noted, product display design options comprise display unitshaving cartridge arrangements, where each cartridge is associated with aproduct type. Based on this, product display design option specificationdeterminer 216 can determine the product information related to theactual total product count and the actual mix ratio for each of theproduct display design options.

To determine the actual product count, product display design optionspecification determiner 216 determines the total number of productsheld by the cartridges of a product display design option. One method ofdetermining the product count is to identify the cartridge type and theassociated product type for each cartridge in the product display designoption. For each cartridge, the cartridge volume for the cartridge andthe product volume for the product associated with the cartridge can beboth retrieved from product display dataset 222. The total number ofproducts for the cartridge is the number of products that maximize thecartridge volume holding the products without the total product volumeexceeding the cartridge volume. The actual total product count will thenbe the summation of the number of products within each cartridge of theproduct display design option.

In another implementation, the fill amount threshold can be determinedfor a cartridge, which describes how much volume of the cartridge isfilled by the products. For instance, the fill amount threshold for thecartridge can be any predetermined value; however, in one specificaspect, it is any value equal to or between 50% and 100% filled. Usingthis method, the number of products for each cartridge is the number ofproducts that comprises a total product volume substantially equal tothe fill amount threshold. As an example, if a cartridge has a fillamount threshold of 50%, then the number of products for the cartridgecan be determined where the total product volume of the products issubstantially equal to 50% of the cartridge volume. Similarly, theactual total product count will be the summation of the number ofproducts within each cartridge of the product display design option.

Another method for determining the actual total product count includesretrieving product count information associated with a cartridge type,which can be stored in product display dataset 222. For instance, astacking arrangement for each product type can be determined for eachcartridge type, which provides the number of products of a particularproduct type that can be held by a cartridge of a particular cartridgetype. As such, product display design option specification determiner216 can identify each cartridge and its associated product type for aproduct display design option. Using this, product display design optionspecification determiner 216 retrieves from product display dataset 222the product count for each cartridge based on the predetermined productcount for the product type associated with the cartridge type. Theactual total product count for the product display design option is thenthe summation of the product count for each cartridge.

Product display design option specification determiner 216 can alsodetermine an actual mix ratio for the product display design options.The actual mix ratio indicates the proportion of each product type ofthe products relative to an actual total product count. The number ofproducts for each product type within the product display design optioncan be determined using the methods just described. The actual mix ratiothen is the amount of each product type in proportion to the actualtotal product count. For example, if the total product count is 100 andthe actual product count for a first product type is 20, a secondproduct type is 30, and a third product type is 50, then the actual mixratio is 20% of the first product type, 30% of the second product type,and 50% of the third product type.

Product display design option selector 218 generally utilizes the actualproduct display information determined by product display design optionspecification determiner 216 to select a product display design optionfor output by product display design model 210, such as product displaydesign option 208.

Product display design option specification determiner 216 may select aproduct display design option based on the actual total product count,the actual mix ratio, or both. The selected product display designoption can be the product display design option having an actual totalproduct count or an actual mix ratio that is closest to target totalproduct count 205 or target mix ratio 203 received as inputs 202.

To determine the product display design option having an actual totalproduct count that is the closest to target total product count 205,product display design option selector 218 can determine the absolutevalue of the difference between the actual total product count andtarget total product count 205. Using this example method, the productdisplay design option having the lowest calculated value is closest.

To determine the product display design option having an actual mixratio that is the closest to target mix ratio 203, a minimum averagedifference can be determined and used. To determine the lowest averagedifference, the product count for each product type of the productdisplay design option is determined using methods previously discussed.The target mix ratio indicates the proportional amount of each producttype based on the target total product count. The absolute value of thedifference between the product count for each product type of theproduct display design option and the product count determined from thetarget mix ratio and the target total product count can be determined.The difference between the product counts is averaged. The productdisplay design option associated with the lowest average difference isthe closest. Another similar method determines the lowest averagedifference between the proportional value (e.g., the percentage) of eachproduct type of the product display design option and the proportionalvalue of each product type based on the target mix ratio.

When determining the lowest average distance for products types betweenthe actual values and the target values, product types can be weightedto emphasize particular product types. That is, some product types canbe weighted more heavily than other product types, such that the moreheavily weighted product types more greatly affects the lowest averagedifference. This may be done so that product types having a greaterproportion of representation within the target mix ratio have a greatereffect in determining the lowest average difference.

In an implementation, product display design option selector 218 ranksthe product display design options based on the target total productcount compared to the actual total product count. The ranking mayfurther be based on the target mix ratio compared to the actual mixratio. Higher ranked product display design options have actual valuesthat are closer to the target values. Product display design optionselector 218 can select a highest ranked product display design option.This implementation can also be beneficial when selecting multipleproduct display design options for output by the product displaydesigner, such as the top two or three ranked product display designoptions. Although, it will be recognized that any top number can beselected. Using this method also allows multiple product display designoption outputs to be presented to a client or other entity.

In another implementation, product display design option selector 218selects more than one product display design option based on differenttarget values determined for different locations. For instance, thetarget total product count and target mix ratio may be associated with afirst location. An additional target total product count and additionaltarget mix ratio can be determined for a second location that isdifferent that the first. In practice, this often occurs where retailersare regional and different ratios and different product types aregenerally sold. To account for this, product display design optionselector 218 may select a first product display design option based onits actual total product count compared to a first target total productcount of the first location or its actual mix ratio compared to a firsttarget mix ratio of the first location. Product display design optionselector 218 may also select a second product display design optionbased on its actual total product count compared to a second targettotal product count of the second location or its actual mix ratiocompared to a second target mix ratio of the second location.

It should be recognized that these are example methods for determiningthe product display design option having actual values that are closestto the target values. Other statistical methods can be performed byproduct display design option selector 218 to determine which productdisplay design option has actual values closest to target valuesrelative to other product display design options that have beendetermined by product display design model 210. Some examples suitablefor use include a t-test, a goodness-of-fit test, and the like.

In some cases, multiple product display design options can have the same“closeness” to the target values. That is, the method used to determinethe closest product display design option to the target valuesdetermines more than one product display design option that are eachequally as close to the target values. This can occur where the twodifferent product display design options have the same actual totalproduct count and the same actual mix ratio. Here, each product displaydesign option includes the same cartridge types associated with the sameproduct types; however, the cartridges are in different arrangementswithin the product display. In such cases, product display design optionselector 218 may select the closest product display design option thatmaximizes the distance between products of the same type. Put anotherway, product display design option selector may select the productdisplay design option that separates two cartridges associated with thesame product type using another cartridge associated with a differentproduct type. This will create a product display that spreads outproducts of the same type over the product display when they arepresented, which is generally more appealing than grouping all productsof the same product type together. Additionally, this is beneficialbecause it helps to evenly distribute the weight across the productdisplay, as some product type compositions are denser than others.

In stand-alone type product displays, product display design optionselector 218 may select the closest product display design that has theheaviest product types arranged lower in the product display thanrelatively lighter product types, which are arranged higher in theproduct display compared to the heavier product types. This givesstand-alone type displays a lower center of gravity, making them lesslikely to topple.

In other aspects, product display design option selector 218 can beconfigured for selecting a product display design option based on otherfactors. For example, product display design option selector 218 mayselect the product display design option based on total profit margin ofthe products within the corresponding product display, based on totalcost of the product display, based on the number of display units withinthe product display, based on the total material forming the productdisplay, and the like.

In another implementation, the product display design option is manuallyselected by, for example, a client or other entity involved in thedesign, manufacture, or use of product displays.

The selected product display design option can be provided by productdisplay design model 210 as an output, such as product display designoption 208. The output can be in the form of a three-dimensional ortwo-dimensional visual representation. The selected product displaydesign option can be provided as a three-dimensional reconstructionillustrating the product display associated with the selected productdisplay design option, including the cartridge location arrangement foreach of the display units. The product display output may includeadditional features, such as a top, base or other feature, based on aproduct display type, such as product display type 206 received as partof inputs 202. In another example, the output can be provided as atwo-dimensional grid that represents the cartridge location arrangementand the product type associated with each cartridge of product displaydesign. In aspects where more than one display unit is included in theselected product display design option, the output can provide alocation for one of the displays relative to the other display based onthe product display type, such as product display type 206. Anotheroutput may simply be a set of computer-executable or human-readableinstructions suitable for forming the corresponding product display.

The product display design option 208 can further be provided to amanufacturer or a manufacturing device to manufacture the associatedproduct display. Blanks for each of the cartridge, display units, andother features can be formed using the manufacturing device based on theproduct display design option 208. The blanks can be constructed intotheir respective cartridges, display units, and other features. Thesecan be assembled in accordance with the product display design option208 to provide the constructed product display.

Turning now to FIG. 9 , a flow diagram of example method 900 formanufacturing a product display is provided. At block 902, standardizedunits comprising products, cartridges, and display units are defined. Aspreviously discussed, product types associated with the products caneach be defined in terms of their volume parameters, which indicate theproduct volume for each product type. Products can also be defined basedon their composition. Cartridge types associated with the cartridges caneach be defined in terms of their volume parameters, which indicate thecartridge volume for each cartridge type. Each cartridge type can beassociated with one or more display units configured to hold a cartridgeof the cartridge type. Display unit types associated with each of thedisplay units can be defined in terms of their volume parameters, whichindicate the volume of the display unit configured to hold a cartridge.The display units can further be associated with product display types.The defined standardized units and other related information may bestored in computer memory.

At block 904, a product display design model is executed to generateproduct display design options that include geometric arrangements ofthe standardized units. The product display design model identifiesgeometric arrangements of the standardized units, including one or moreof the products, the cartridges, and the display units. In this way, thenumber of product display design options is limited to a finite numberbased on the specific volume of space that defines each of thestandardized units. Each geometric arrangement includes a product volumespatially oriented within a cartridge volume and the cartridge volumespatially oriented within a display unit volume. Put another way, eachgeometric arrangement specifies a product spatially oriented within acartridge and the cartridge spatially oriented within a display unit.

At block 906, a display unit blank is formed based on a selected productdisplay design option. The selected product display design option isselected from the generated product display design options. Theselection may be based on an actual total product count value for eachproduct display design option compared to a target total product count.The selection may also be based on an actual mix ratio for each of theproduct display design options compared to a target mix ratio. Theselected product display design option incudes a geometric arrangementof display units, cartridges, and products.

The display unit blanks can be formed using a manufacturing device, andthe display unit blanks are configured to construct display units. Thecartridge blanks can be formed using the manufacturing device, and thecartridge blanks are configured to construct cartridges. The productdisplay can be assembled from the display units and the cartridges basedon the geometric arrangement provided by the product display designoption, which indicates a cartridge location arrangement for eachcartridge within the display units based on the product type associatedwith each cartridge, and indicates a location for each of the displayunits within the product display.

With reference now to FIG. 10 , another flow diagram of example method1000 for manufacturing a product display is provided. At block 1002, aproduct display type and a target total product count are provided. Theproduct display type may be provided by selecting a product display typefrom a plurality of product display types that have been designed. Theproduct display type may also be provided by creating and defining a newproduct display type. The target total product count can be received ata computing device associated with any entity that designs,manufactures, requests or uses a product display. The target totalproduct count can be received from the computing device for use by aproduct display design model.

At block 1004, the product display design model is executed to generateproduct display design options that include geometric arrangements ofthe standardized units. Each product display design option is generatedfrom the product display design model by identifying a geometricarrangement of standardized units that comprise products, cartridges,and a display unit. The display unit can be determined based on theproduct display type and the cartridges can be associated with one ormore cartridge types determined based on the display unit. Eachgeometric arrangement specifies a product spatially oriented within acartridge and the cartridge spatially oriented within a display unit.

At block 1006, a product display design option is selected. The selectedproduct display design option can be selected based on a comparison ofan actual total product count with the target total product count.

At block 1008, a display unit blank is formed based on the selectedproduct display design option. Cartridge blanks may also be formed basedon the selected product display design option. The selected productdisplay design option provides the structural features of the displayunit based on association with the display unit type and a number ofdisplay units, which are used by a manufacturing device to form one ormore display unit blanks for one or more display unit types. Theselected product display design option also provides the structuralfeatures of the cartridges associated with the cartridge types and thenumber of cartridges, which are used by the manufacturing device to formone or more cartridge blanks for one or more cartridge types. Themanufactured display unit blanks and cartridge blanks can be constructedin respective display units and cartridges, and assembled into theproduct display. The product display can have a cartridge locationarrangement based on the product type associated with each cartridge andthe geometric arrangement associated with the product display designoption.

Regarding FIG. 11 , a flow diagram is provided illustrating an examplemethod 1100 for designing a product display. Each block of method 1100comprises a computing process performed using any combination ofhardware, firmware, or software. For instance, various functions can becarried out by a processor executing instructions stored in memory. Themethods can also be embodied as computer-usable instructions stored oncomputer storage media. The methods can be provided by a standaloneapplication, a service or hosted service (standalone or in combinationwith another hosted service), or a plug-in to another product, to name afew. Method 1100 could be implemented by product display designer 200 asdescribed in conjunction with FIG. 2 .

With continued reference to FIG. 11 , example method 1100 for designinga product display is provided. At block 1102, volume parameters forstandardized units comprising products, cartridges, and display unitsare received. The volume parameters for the standardized units can bedefined and stored in computer memory. The volume parameters can bereceived by retrieving the volume parameters from the computer memory.Display units are configured to hold cartridges and the cartridges areconfigured to hold the products. In a specific case, each cartridgeholds products of one product type. Each of the standardized units isdefined by a specific volume of space, i.e., each product of a producttype occupies a product volume, each cartridge of a cartridge typeoccupies a cartridge volume, and the volume of space within a displayunit configured to hold a cartridge defines a display unit volume.

At block 1104, a request to design a product display is received. Therequest can include various inputs for designing the product display,including any combination of target total product count, product types,target mix ratio, and product display type.

At block 1106, product display design options are generated byidentifying geometric arrangements of the standardized units. Eachproduct display design option is associated with a geometricarrangement. Each geometric arrangement comprises a product volumespatially oriented within a cartridge volume, and the cartridge volumespatially oriented within a display unit volume. Thus, each geometricarrangement specifies a product spatially oriented within a cartridge,and the cartridge spatially oriented within a display unit. In this way,the geometric arrangements are identified based on the specific volumeof the standardized units.

At block 1108, a generated product display design option is provided formanufacturing a corresponding product display. The product displaydesign option can be provided as a visual representation or amachine-readable or human-readable representation of the productdisplay. The product display may be manufactured by a manufacturingdevice in accordance with the generated product display design option.

Each of the product display design options may be ranked. The rankingcan be based on a target total product count or a target mix ratiocompared to an actual total product count or an actual mix ratioassociated with each product display design option. The generatedproduct display design option can be provided for manufacture based onthe ranking.

In some cases, a plurality of product display design options is providedfor manufacturing, including a first and second product display designoption. The first and second product display design option can each beselected based on the ranking. In another aspect, the first productdisplay design option is selected based on target values associated witha first location compared to actual values for the first product displaydesign option. The second product display design option is selectedbased on target values associated with a second location compared toactual values for the second product design option.

Having described an overview of embodiments of the present technology,an example operating environment in which embodiments of the presentinvention may be implemented is described below in order to provide ageneral context for various aspects of the technology. Referring now toFIG. 12 in particular, an example operating environment for implementingembodiments of the technology is shown and designated generally ascomputing device 1200. Computing device 1200 is but one example of asuitable computing environment and is not intended to suggest anylimitation as to the scope of use or functionality of the technology.Neither should computing device 1200 be interpreted as having anydependency or requirement relating to any one or combination ofcomponents illustrated.

Some aspects of the technology are described in the general context ofcomputer code or machine-useable instructions, includingcomputer-executable instructions such as program modules, being executedby a computer or other machine, such as a cellular telephone, personaldata assistant, or other handheld device. Generally, program modulesincluding routines, programs, objects, components, data structures,etc., refer to code that perform particular tasks or implementparticular abstract data types. The disclosed technology may bepracticed in a variety of system configurations, including hand-helddevices, consumer electronics, general-purpose computers, more specialtycomputing devices, and the like. The disclosed technology may also bepracticed in distributed computing environments where tasks areperformed by remote-processing devices that are linked through acommunications network.

With continued reference to FIG. 12 , computing device 1200 includes bus1210 that directly or indirectly couples the following devices: memory1212, one or more processors 1214, one or more presentation component(s)1216, input/output (I/O) ports 1218, input/output components 1220, andillustrative power supply 1222. Bus 1210 represents what may be one ormore busses (such as an address bus, data bus, or combination thereof).Although the various blocks of FIG. 12 are shown with lines for the sakeof clarity, in reality, delineating various components is not so clear,and metaphorically, the lines would more accurately be grey and fuzzy.For example, one may consider a presentation component such as a displaydevice to be an I/O component. Also, processors have memory. Theinventors recognize that such is the nature of the art, and reiteratesthat the diagram of FIG. 12 is merely illustrative of an examplecomputing device that can be used in connection with one or moreembodiments of the technology. Distinction is not made between suchcategories as “workstation,” “server,” “laptop,” “hand-held device,” asso on, as all are contemplated within the scope of FIG. 12 in referringto “computing device.”

Computing device 1200 typically includes a variety of computer-readablemedia. Computer-readable media can be any available media that can beaccessed by computing device 1200. It includes both volatile andnonvolatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way ofexample, computer-readable media may comprise computer storage media andcommunication media. Computer storage media includes both volatile andnonvolatile, removable and non-removable media, which may be implementedin any method or technology for storage of information such ascomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM,ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or any other medium which can be used to store the desired informationand that can be accessed by computing device 1200. Computer storagemedia does not comprise signals per se. Communication media typicallyembodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, programmodules, or other data in a modulated data signal, such as a carrierwave or other transport mechanism, and includes any information deliverymedia. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one ormore of its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encodeinformation in the signal. By way of example, communication mediaincludes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection,and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wirelessmedia. Combinations of any of the above should also be included withinthe scope of computer-readable media.

Memory 1212 includes computer storage media in the form of volatile ornonvolatile memory. Memory 1212 may be removable, non-removable, or acombination thereof. Example hardware devices include solid-statememory, hard drives, optical-disc drives, and so forth. Memory 1212 maycomprise computer-readable instructions, such as instructions 1224.Computing device 1200 includes one or more processors 1214 that readdata from various entities such as memory 1212 or I/O components 1220.For example, one or more processors 1214 may read and executeinstructions 1224 stored on memory 1212, the execution of which isrepresented by the dashed lines of instructions 1224 within one or moreprocessors 1214. Presentation component(s) 1216 present data indicationsto a user or other device. Example presentation components include adisplay device, speaker, printing component, vibrating component, andthe like.

I/O ports 1218 allow computing device 1200 to be logically coupled toother devices including I/O components 1220, some of which may be builtin. Illustrative components include a microphone, joystick, game pad,satellite dish, scanner, printer, wireless device, etc. I/O components1220 may provide a natural user interface (NUI) that processes airgestures, voice, or other physiological inputs generated by a user. Insome instances, inputs may be transmitted to an appropriate networkelement for further processing. An NUI may implement any combination ofspeech recognition, stylus recognition, facial recognition, biometricrecognition, gesture recognition both on screen and adjacent to thescreen, air gestures, head and eye tracking, and touch recognition (asdescribed in more detail below) associated with a display of computingdevice 1200. Computing device 1200 may be equipped with depth cameras,such as stereoscopic camera systems, infrared camera systems, RGB camerasystems, touchscreen technology, and any combination of these, forgesture detection and recognition. Additionally, computing device 1200may be equipped with accelerometers or gyroscopes that enable detectionof motion. The output of the accelerometers or gyroscopes may beprovided to the display of computing device 1200 to render immersiveaugmented reality or virtual reality.

Embodiments described herein support designing and manufacturing productdisplays. Some of the components described herein refer to integratedcomponents associated with a computer executing product displaydesigner. The integrated components refer to the hardware architectureand software framework that support functionality of the product displaydesigner. The hardware architecture refers to physical components andinterrelationships thereof and the software framework refers to softwareproviding functionality that can be implemented with hardware embodiedon a device, such any of the components described in conjunction withFIG. 1 .

The end-to-end software-based product display designer can operatecomputer hardware to provide functionality. At a low level, hardwareprocessors execute instructions selected from a machine language (alsoreferred to as machine code or native) instruction set for a givenprocessor. The processor recognizes the native instructions and performscorresponding low-level functions relating, for example, to logic,control and memory operations. Low-level software written in machinecode can provide more complex functionality to higher levels ofsoftware. As used herein, computer-executable instructions includes anysoftware, including low level software written in machine code, higherlevel software such as application software and any combination thereof.In this regard, the product display designer can manage resources andprovide services for the product display designer functionality. Anyother variations and combinations are contemplated with embodiments ofthe present disclosure.

Having identified various components in the present disclosure, itshould be understood that any number of components and arrangementsmight be employed to achieve the desired functionality within the scopeof the present disclosure. For example, the components in theembodiments depicted in the figures are shown with lines for the sake ofconceptual clarity. Other arrangements of these and other components mayalso be implemented. For example, although some components are depictedas single components, many of the elements described herein may beimplemented as discrete or distributed components or in conjunction withother components, and in any suitable combination and location. Someelements may be omitted altogether. Moreover, various functionsdescribed herein as being performed by one or more entities may becarried out by hardware, firmware, or software, as described below. Forinstance, various functions may be carried out by a processor executinginstructions stored in memory. As such, other arrangements and elements(e.g., machines, interfaces, functions, orders, and groupings offunctions, etc.) can be used in addition to or instead of those shown.

Embodiments described above may be combined with one or more of thespecifically described alternatives. In particular, an embodiment thatis claimed may contain a reference, in the alternative, to more than oneother embodiment. The embodiment that is claimed may specify a furtherlimitation of the subject matter claimed.

The subject matter of the present technology is described withspecificity herein to meet statutory requirements. However, thedescription itself is not intended to limit the scope of thisdisclosure. Rather, the inventors have contemplated that the claimed ordisclosed subject matter might also be embodied in other ways, toinclude different steps or combinations of steps similar to the onesdescribed in this document, in conjunction with other present or futuretechnologies. Moreover, although the terms “step” or “block” might beused herein to connote different elements of methods employed, the termsshould not be interpreted as implying any particular order among orbetween various steps herein disclosed unless and except when the orderof individual steps is explicitly stated.

For purposes of this disclosure, the word “including” has the same broadmeaning as the word “comprising,” and the word “accessing” comprises“receiving,” “referencing,” or “retrieving.” Further the word“communicating” has the same broad meaning as the word “receiving,” or“transmitting” facilitated by software or hardware-based buses,receivers, or transmitters” using communication media described herein.Also, the word “initiating” has the same broad meaning as the word“executing or “instructing” where the corresponding action can beperformed to completion or interrupted based on an occurrence of anotheraction.

In addition, words such as “a” and “an,” unless otherwise indicated tothe contrary, include the plural as well as the singular. Thus, forexample, the constraint of “a feature” is satisfied where one or morefeatures are present. Also, the term “or” includes the conjunctive, thedisjunctive, and both (a or b thus includes either a or b, as well as aand b).

For purposes of a detailed discussion above, embodiments of the presenttechnology described with reference to a distributed computingenvironment; however, the distributed computing environment depictedherein is merely an example. Components can be configured for performingnovel aspects of embodiments, where the term “configured for” can referto “programmed to” perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types using code. Further, while embodiments of thepresent technology may generally refer to the distributed data objectmanagement system and the schematics described herein, it is understoodthat the techniques described may be extended to other implementationcontexts.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this technology is one welladapted to attain all the ends and objects described above, includingother advantages that are obvious or inherent to the structure. It willbe understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utilityand may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaims. Since many possible embodiments of the described technology maybe made without departing from the scope, it is to be understood thatall matter described herein or illustrated the accompanying drawings isto be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Some additional aspects of the technology that can be implemented basedon the foregoing description follow.

Aspect 1: One or more computer storage media having computer-useableinstructions that, when used by a computing device, cause the computingdevice to design a product display by performing operations comprising:receiving volume parameters for standardized units, the standardizedunits comprising products, cartridges configured to hold the products,and display units configured to hold the cartridges, the geometricconfigurations defining a specific volume of space for each of thestandardized units comprising a product volume, a cartridge volume, anda display unit volume; receiving a request to design a product display,the request comprising a product display type and a product typeassociated with the products; generating product display design optionsby identifying geometric arrangements of a product selected based on thereceived product type, a cartridge, and a display unit selected based onthe received product display type, wherein the geometric arrangementsare limited to a finite number based on the specific volume of spacedefining each of the standardized units, and wherein each of thegeometric arrangements specifies the product spatially oriented withinthe cartridge, and the cartridge spatially oriented within the displayunit; and providing a generated product display design option formanufacturing, wherein the product display is manufactured in accordancewith the generated product display design option.

Aspect 2: The media of aspect 1, wherein the request further comprises atarget total product count, and wherein generating the product displaydesign options further comprises selecting a number of display units ofthe display unit type based on the target total product count.

Aspect 3: The media of aspect 2, wherein the request further includes atarget mix ratio that indicates a proportion of the product typerelative to the target total product count, wherein the generatedproduct display design option is provided based on the target mix ratiocompared to an actual mix ratio of the generated product display designoption.

Aspect 4: The media of aspect 1, further comprising receiving aselection of the generated product display option provided formanufacturing, the generated product display option selected based on aranking of the generated product display design options, the rankingdetermined based on a target total product count included in the requestcompared to an actual total product count associated with each of thegenerated product display options.

Aspect 5: The media of aspect 1, further comprising providing anadditional generated product display option for manufacturing, thegenerated product display option and the additional generated productdisplay option selected from the generated product display options basedon an actual mix ratio of the generated product display option comparedto a first target mix ratio associated with a first location and anadditional actual mix ratio of the additional generated product displayoption compared to a second target mix ratio associated with a secondlocation.

Aspect 6: The media of aspect 1, wherein identifying the geometricarrangements includes: arranging the cartridges within the display unitby iterating through each cartridge type of the cartridges to identifycombinations of the cartridges that maximize the display unit volume;arranging the products within the combinations of the cartridges byassociating each of the cartridges with one product type; andidentifying as the geometric arrangements the combinations of cartridgesthat each include at least one cartridge for each product type receivedin the request.

Aspect 7: The media of aspect 1, further comprising providinginstructions to a manufacturing device, wherein the manufacturing devicemanufactures a display unit blank configured to construct the displayunit of the product display and a cartridge blank configured toconstruct the cartridge of the product display based on theinstructions.

Aspect 8: A computerized method for designing a product display, themethod comprising: receiving a selection of product types associatedwith products, a product display type associated with a display unitconfigured to hold cartridges, a target total product count, and atarget mix ratio that indicates a proportion of each product typerelative to the target total product count, wherein the products, thecartridges, and the display unit are part of standardized units that areeach defined by a specific volume of space comprising a product volume,a cartridge volume, and a display unit volume; generating productdisplay design options by identifying geometric arrangements of theproducts and the cartridges within the display unit, wherein thegeometric arrangements are limited to a finite number based on thespecific volume of space defining each of the standardized units;determining an actual total product count and an actual mix ratio foreach of the generated product display design options, the actual mixratio indicating a proportion of each product type relative to theactual total product count; and providing a generated product displaydesign option for manufacturing based on the target total product countcompared to the actual total product count and the target mix ratiocompared to the actual mix ratio, wherein the product display ismanufactured in accordance with the generated product display designoption.

Aspect 9: The method of aspect 8, wherein the product display comprisesa plurality of display units determined based on the target totalproduct count.

Aspect 10: The method of aspect 8, further comprising generating avisual indication of a location of the products within the productdisplay, the location within the display determined by product type.

Aspect 11: The method of aspect 10, wherein determining the locationwithin the display comprises separating cartridges of a same producttype by a cartridge of a different product type.

Aspect 12: The method of aspect 8, wherein identifying the geometricarrangements includes: arranging the cartridges within the display unitby iterating through each cartridge type of the cartridges to identifycombinations of the cartridges that maximize the display unit volume;arranging the products within the combinations of the cartridges byassociating each of the cartridges with one product type; andidentifying as the geometric arrangements the combinations of cartridgesthat each include at least one cartridge for each product type received.

Aspect 13: The method of aspect 8, wherein the cartridges comprise afirst cartridge type and a second cartridge type each having a specificcartridge volume, the specific cartridge volume of second cartridge typebeing one-half the specific cartridge volume of the first cartridgetype.

Aspect 14: The method of aspect 8, further comprising providinginstructions to a manufacturing device, wherein the manufacturing devicemanufactures a display unit blank configured to construct the displayunit of the product display and a cartridge blank configured toconstruct a cartridge of the product display based on the instructions.

Aspect 15: A system for designing a product display, the systemcomprising: at least one computer processor; and one or more computerstorage media having stored thereon computer-readable instructions fordesigning a product display that, when executed, cause the at least oneprocessor to perform operations comprising: receiving a product displaytype and a target total product count of products for display in aproduct display associated with the product display type; generatingproduct display design options by identifying geometric arrangements ofstandardized units comprising products, cartridges, and a display unit,the display unit determined based on the product type and the cartridgedetermined based on the display unit, each of the standardized unitsdefined by a specific volume of space comprising a product volume, acartridge volume, and a display unit volume, wherein the geometricarrangements are limited to a finite number based on the specific volumeof space, and wherein each of the geometric arrangements specifies aproduct spatially oriented within a cartridge and the cartridgespatially oriented within the display unit; determining an actual totalproduct count for each of the generated product display design options;and providing a generated product display design option formanufacturing the product display, the generated product display designoption being selected for manufacture based on the actual total productcount for the generated product display design compared to the targettotal product count.

Aspect 16: The system of aspect 15, further comprising a manufacturingdevice, wherein the generated product display design option is providedto the manufacturing device, and the manufacturing device manufactures adisplay unit blank and a cartridge blank for the product display basedon the generated product display design option.

Aspect 17: The system of aspect 15, further comprising: receiving atarget mix ratio that indicates a proportion of each product type of theproducts relative to the target total product count; and determining anactual mix ratio for each of the generated product display designoptions, wherein the generated product display design provided formanufacture is further selected based on the actual mix ratio comparedto the target mix ratio.

Aspect 18: The system of aspect 15, wherein a selection of product typesassociated with the products is received, and wherein identifying thegeometric arrangements includes: arranging the cartridges within thedisplay unit by iterating through each cartridge type of the cartridgesto identify combinations of the cartridges that maximize the displayunit volume; arranging the products within the combinations of thecartridges based on product type; and identifying as the geometricarrangements the combinations of cartridges that each include at leastone cartridge for each product type.

Aspect 19: The system of aspect 15, further comprising defining thestandardized units such that each product type of the products has aspecific product volume, each cartridge type of the cartridges has aspecific cartridge volume, and the display unit volume is specific tothe display unit type.

Aspect 20: The system of aspect 15, further comprising generating avisual indication of a location of the products within the productdisplay, the location within the display determined by product type.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method performed by one ormore processors, the method comprising: accessing standardized unitscomprising products, cartridges configured to hold the products, anddisplay units configured to hold the cartridges, the display unitsassociated with a plurality of display unit types, wherein eachstandardized unit is defined by a specific volume of space comprising aproduct volume, a cartridge volume, and a display unit volume, andwherein display units are configured to be modularly arranged in adisplay unit group to form a product display; for a display unit typeselected from the plurality of display unit types, generating productdisplay design options comprising the selected display unit type byconfiguring geometric arrangements of the standardized units, andwherein each of the geometric arrangements specifies a product spatiallyoriented within a cartridge, and a cartridge spatially oriented within adisplay unit comprising the selected display unit type; and providing agenerated product display design option for manufacturing acorresponding display unit.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theproduct display comprises a recessed area having a volume substantiallyequal to the cartridge volume.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising selecting a product display type and a target total productcount, wherein the standardized units for which the geometricarrangements are identified comprise a plurality of display units of adisplay unit type determined based on the product display type and thetarget total product count, wherein the plurality of display unitsmodularly arranges into the product display.
 4. The method of claim 1,further comprising selecting a product display type, a target totalproduct count, a plurality of product types, and a target mix ratio thatindicates a proportion of each product type relative to the target totalproduct count.
 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising identifyinga target product count for each of the plurality of product types basedon the target mix ratio and the target total product count, and whereinthe generated product display design options are ranked based on anactual product type count for each of the plurality of product typescompared to the target product count for each of the plurality ofproduct types and based on an actual total product count associated witheach of the generated product display design options compared to thetarget total product count.
 6. The method of claim 5, further comprisingselecting the product display design option from a highest rankedproduct display design option.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: identifying cartridge location arrangements for thecartridges within the display units; identifying a product typeassociated with the products for each of the cartridges within thedisplay units; and providing a visual representation of a cartridgelocation arrangement associated with the selected product display designoption, the visual representation indicating a location for each producttype within the display unit of the product display.
 8. One or morecomputer storage media storing computer-readable instructions that, whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to perform a methodcomprising: providing a product display type and a target total productcount of products for display in a product display corresponding to theproduct display type; executing a product display design model togenerate product display design options by identifying geometricarrangements of standardized units that comprise the products,cartridges, and a display unit corresponding to the product displaytype, wherein the geometric arrangements specify a product spatiallyoriented within a cartridge and the cartridge spatially oriented withinthe display unit, and wherein display units are configured to bemodularly arranged in a display unit group to form the product display;selecting a product display design option from among the generatedproduct display design options based on the target total product count;and providing the selected product display design option formanufacturing the display unit of the product display.
 9. The media ofclaim 8, wherein the product display comprises a recessed area having avolume substantially equal to a cartridge volume of the cartridge. 10.The media of claim 8, wherein the cartridge comprises volume parameters,and at least one of the volume parameters of the cartridge is a divisionof a corresponding volume parameter of a recessed area within thedisplay unit.
 11. The media of claim 8, wherein the product displaydesign option is selected based on an actual total product count of theproduct display design option compared to the target total productcount.
 12. The media of claim 8, further comprising providing a targetmix ratio that indicates a proportion of each product type of theproducts relative to the target total product count, wherein the productdisplay design option is selected based on an actual mix ratio thatindicates a proportion of each product type of the products within theproduct display design option relative to an actual total product countcompared to the target mix ratio.
 13. The media of claim 8, furthercomprising defining the standardized units such that each product typeof the products has a specific product volume, each cartridge type ofthe cartridges has a specific cartridge volume, and the display unitvolume is specific to a display unit type corresponding to the productdisplay type.
 14. The media of claim 13, further comprising providingthe defined standardized units to the product display design model foruse in determining the geometric arrangements.
 15. The media of claim13, wherein the cartridges comprise a first cartridge type and a secondcartridge type, the specific cartridge volume of the second cartridgetype being one-half the specific cartridge volume of the first cartridgetype.
 16. The media of claim 8, further comprising: identifyingcartridge location arrangements for the cartridges within the displayunit; identifying a product type associated with the products for eachof the cartridges within the display unit; and providing a visualrepresentation of a cartridge location arrangement associated with theselected product display design option, the visual representationindicating a location for each product type within the display unit ofthe product display.
 17. A system comprising: at least one processor;and one or more computer storage media storing computer readableinstructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor,cause the processor to perform a method comprising: accessingstandardized units comprising products, cartridges configured to holdthe products, and display units configured to hold the cartridges, thedisplay units associated with a plurality of display unit types, whereindisplay units are configured to be modularly arranged in a display unitgroup to form a product display; for a display unit type selected fromthe plurality of display unit types, generating product display designoptions comprising the selected display unit type by configuringgeometric arrangements of the standardized units, wherein each of thegeometric arrangements specifies a product spatially oriented within acartridge, and a cartridge spatially oriented within a display unitcomprising the selected display unit type; selecting a product displaydesign option from the generated product display design options; andproviding, at a graphical user interface, a visual representation of thedisplay unit corresponding to the selected product display designoption, the visual representation indicating a location of the productsarranged within the cartridges, and the cartridges arranged within thedisplay unit based on the product display design option.
 18. The systemof claim 17, wherein the visual representation further comprises aplurality of display units that includes the display unit, and thevisual representation includes a cartridge arrangement of the cartridgescomprising the products for each of the plurality of display units, andthe plurality of display units modularly arranges to form the productdisplay.
 19. The system of claim 18, wherein the plurality of displayunits vertically arranges to form the product display.
 20. The system ofclaim 17, further comprising ranking the product display design options,and wherein the product display design option is selected based on theranking.